Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

Air Cooling vs Liquid Cooling? Pros, Cons, and Differences

Tags:
  • Water Cooling
  • Cooling
  • Computers
  • Components
Last response: in Components
Share
June 12, 2014 7:34:44 PM

Hey everyone. I'm looking to build a gaming computer and I'm not exactly sure which route to go as far as air or liquid cooling. Any help with the pros, cons, and differences between the two would be greatly appreciated.

More about : air cooling liquid cooling pros cons differences

June 12, 2014 7:47:19 PM

It all depends on what you're doing, and what hardware you have. A full liquid cooling unit vs a full fan unit, the liquid will win. But a full liquid cooling system will be much much more expensive. I have my CPU liquid cooled, but everything else is air cooled. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loading up your case with the max amount of fans you can. The difference of the two is obvious. Air vs liquid. A pro for liquid is that you will see better temps. A con like I said, is that it's more expensive. A pro for air is that is pretty cheap to get max fans for your case. A con would be your not going to get better temps over liquid cooling. There are some good fans out there though. Like I said, it just depends on what you're planning to do with the system. And obviously what can fit in your case.
m
0
l
June 12, 2014 7:51:32 PM

Differences: Different installation, different challenges.

Water:
PRO: Disperses more heat, no RAM or mosfet interference, looks cooler (no pun intended, opinion)
CON: More failure points, harder installation

Air:
PRO: Less failure points, easier to install
CON: Disperses less heat (generally), RAM and mosfet clearance issues (possibly, all depends on what you get).
m
0
l
Related resources
June 12, 2014 7:57:55 PM

And an all in one water cooler is about equal in performance to an high end air cooler. Only full on custom loops can give you better performance than air.
m
0
l
June 12, 2014 8:08:50 PM

Air will not leak. That said liquid cooling that is done right seldom leaks.
m
0
l
June 12, 2014 8:12:23 PM

The best closed loop liquid cooler will beat the best fan and heatsink. And obviously a custom water cooling setup has the potential to beat both of those.
m
0
l
June 12, 2014 8:16:18 PM

Arishok N7 said:
The best closed loop liquid cooler will beat the best fan and heatsink. And obviously a custom water cooling setup has the potential to beat both of those.


The only all in one liquid cooler I can think of was a swiftech h320 which is sadly not for sale in the united states. The corsair h100i will only give you a 1-2 degrees edge over something like a Noctua NH-D14
m
0
l
June 12, 2014 8:24:42 PM

pigsinspace72 said:
Arishok N7 said:
The best closed loop liquid cooler will beat the best fan and heatsink. And obviously a custom water cooling setup has the potential to beat both of those.


The only all in one liquid cooler I can think of was a swiftech h320 which is sadly not for sale in the united states. The corsair h100i will only give you a 1-2 degrees edge over something like a Noctua NH-D14


The NZXT Kraken X60 is a little better than the Corsair h100i. Also, the h110 and the Nepton 280L are dang legit as well.
m
0
l
June 12, 2014 8:25:05 PM

Unless you are planning on Heavy duty overclocking your good with air.
That said I am thinking about a Cosair H100i for my next upgrade along with a full tower case.
m
0
l
June 13, 2014 3:31:38 PM

Thanks guys
m
0
l
!